Ancient Club Tail Dinosaur Footprints Rewrite North American Prehistoric Timeline

Scientists have discovered the first footprint of club armored dinosaurs in the British Columbia Mountains, challenging previous theories about dinosaur migration and North American extinction.

The 100 million-year-old three-toe track, found at several locations near Bumbler Ridge in northwestern Alberta, provides concrete evidence that during a period when many paleontologists believe they have disappeared from the mainland, stuffed with Ankylosaurs crammed into western Canada.

name Ruopodosaurus Clava – Meaning “the lizard with club/mad collapses” – These newly identified footprints belong to Ankylosaurid Dinosaurs, a cousin of the common Nodosaurid Ankylosaurs’ sledgehammer tail.

“While we don’t know what the dinosaurs that make the Ruopodosaurus footprint look like, we know that it would be 5-6 meters long, spikes and armor length, and with stiff tails or a full tail club,” said Dr Victoria Arbor, a paleontology curator at Royal BC, a study author at Royal BC and a study author at the Museum published the Journal of Buddhism.

What makes this discovery particularly important is the number of toes preserved in the track. Different from previously known tail hair footprints Four dragon bone borealisThese new tracks show four toes, only three – a unique feature of the high-curved dinosaur with a tail angle.

This study fills a key gap in North America’s fossil record. The skeleton remains of the Caster Dragon were not previously found about 1 million to 84 million years ago, causing some paleontologists to temporarily disappear these armored giants from the African continent.

“This study also highlights the importance of Northeast British Columbia to understand the evolution of North American dinosaurs – and there are more findings,” said Arbor, who specializes in Ankylosaurs.

This discovery requires extensive collaboration between researchers from the Royal British Columbia Museum, the Glass Ridge Museum, the Unbumbler Ridge UNESCO Global Geopark and the University of Colorado. These unique three-toe tail curves have been observed before inviting Arbor to collaborate on identification.

“Ankylosaurs and Tumbler Ridge have been synonymous since two little boys discovered a high-tailed dragon track near an unknown ridge in 2000. Now, through this study, it is known that there are two types of Ankylosaurs calling the area residences called the area, and Ruopopodosaurus is only identified in this part of Canada.”

The study also provides compelling evidence that two groups of major executives (club tailbone and flexible tailbone) lived side by side in the same environment during the Inter-Cretaceous period (approximately 1 million to 94 million years ago).

To identify the track, the researchers used photogrammetry to create detailed 3D models from the photos. Some of the best preserved specimens were found to be falling blocks from the cliff’s face, while others were in the original locations of remote creek beds and river banks.

The unique three-toe pattern confirms that these orbits were made with cattle kylosaurids, as the ancestral reconstruction analysis showed that reducing from four to three was a unique feature of this dinosaur group. The team’s research shows Ruopodosaurus Tractmaker’s hips may be about 1.2 meters tall, similar to the later Quicine Dragon Euoplocephalus and Scolosaurus.

It is particularly noteworthy that several tracks in a distant position seem parallel to the uncrossed, suggesting that these heavily armed dinosaurs may have traveled in groups – adding another layer to our understanding of ankylosaur behavior.

In addition to filling gaps in fossil records, this discovery emphasizes the importance of trace fossils – footprints, caves and other markers left by ancient organisms – in understanding prehistoric ecosystems, especially in areas with poor bone preservation.

For the Tumbler Ridge area, already known for its rich paleontological heritage, this discovery further cemented its becoming one of North America’s most important windows into the age of dinosaurs.